I'm 30, working on the being a responsible adult thing. Which is great because I help people plan their big events. I'm off to a pretty good, ok, acceptable start with the first part and have had the good fortune to work with some great people.

I married my college sweetheart and continue to prove that opposites attract.

Lots and not lots going on, it’s been a while, I know. Will post more later, I promise.

Recently had a person I’ve worked with give me a call wanting a few arrangements. I’m not a fan of making a couple here or there because I buy my flowers in bulk from the flower mart at the wholesale price. However, she made it worth my while, and the best part is… she let me just do whatever I wanted provided one was in pastels. So, this is what I came up with.

Café Au Lait Dahlias along with this amazing King Protea were the main focus. Also used astilbe and variegated pittosporum as the greenery. Threw it in a birch container.

If you have somebody turning 21 you could consider a Casino party. This gives you the safety and security you might want from a 21st birthday party, where a simple bar or club might not fit. I’ve been planning a surprise party for my sister-in-law since last month, but now her mother is asking me if we could take the theme in another direction.

She recently learned how to play Texas Hold ’em, and she loves it. They wanted to go to Vegas, but seeing as she isn’t even 21 yet she can’t really afford it right now, so we want to bring Vegas to her. Which is something her mother isn’t quite hot on. I say “her” mother instead of my mother-in-law, because she married in and she is my husbands step-mother and my sister-in-laws biological mother, which makes for a little bit of family drama. But back to Vegas. Unfortunately, we’re on a little bit of a budget too. We’re expecting probably 25 people to our house, and we want to do food, decorations, everything for about $250 ($300 max). And this seems like a creative idea for this kind of coming of age party. We already have 2 sets of poker chips, which cuts down on the extra expense.

Saturday was Mandy’s bridal shower. It was a lovely event being hosted by her dearest friends, who took great care in the plans that they made for the celebration. One of them things that they did a great job at was picking the colors for the bridal shower. I had a lot of fun choosing the arrangements for the bridal shower..

When I have a friend who gets married, I try to come up with something they will need or want, along with making a few objects for bride’s past. Usually the end result is a something very personal and sentimental.

Interviewing Julie, I knew that her theme was boho, her colors were orange, green and blue, and that they were thinking about getting these beautiful colors together. This probably excited me the most because I know SOMEDAY when we get married, this is the way we want to try, so it was perfect for me because now this sort of acts as a dry run for me and I can see if the shower I picked for them works for me as well.

Recently, one of our clients wanted us to throw the ultimate rock-a-billy party to celebrate her sister’s engagement. Her sister and fiancée were fun, grad students in their early 20s and she knew she wanted something really unique for her younger sister. Something “very Austin”.

And I said, “yup, we can do that!”

It was a backyard BBQ for about 50 guests, all in the same age range and all grad students. So, our design team knew we wanted to create something not too stuffy, but chic and funky. Knowing their love for all things rockabilly, roller derby and beyond, we decked out the entire backyard with red/white bandana fabric and created one long banquet table for everyone to sit at. We topped the table with beautiful arrangements of white daisies, yellow tulips, green pom poms and circle-sliced limes showing in the vase below.

The lighting was a bit tricky in the backyard, so we created these fantastic hanging luminaries out of (empty) cans and cans of corn by drilling a pattern of holes in them to make a design and using votive candles inside. We also placed giant sunflower blooms in some to add color above the banquet table. Hung in matching red ribbon from the trees, they were a nice touch to their rock-a-billy/country theme.

Catering brought in from Rudy’s BBQ, we did pork ribs, brisket, chicken and paired them with our homemade sides: Green Bean Almondine, Garlic Butter Roasted Corn on the Cob, and good ol fashioned Potato Salad and Coleslaw. Can’t forget the fixins! Sliced pickles, onions, jalapenos and white bread to sop up all the BBQ sauce…naturally. We are in Texas, after all. (Also, on the table settings, we placed out individual packets of “wet wipes”…ya know, just in case.

For the bar, they wanted the basics: beer, wine and a spicy shiraz to match the BBQ, whiskey and mixed drinks.

After dinner while the guests mingled and played “washers”, They planned a surprise. When everyone least expected it, in thru the door arrives: Mariachis en Fuego! Dressed in traditional mariachi clothing, trumpets, guitars and all, they barged in and everyone’s mouths dropped to the floor! They ate it up. Dancing and smiling from ear to ear, the newly engaged couple kept thanking us over and over for such a wonderful and memorable evening.

A couple of weeks ago I had a glass of Thai iced tea and fell in love. If you will be hosting a tropical party theme then this is definitely something that should be on your refreshment list. I’m kind of sensitive to caffeine since I don’t drink anything with it, and it made me a little giddy too.

The next day we went to the Asian grocery store and bought a one-pound bag of Thai tea which I honestly thought we would never finish. I made some up in Saul’s coffee maker (after cleaning out any coffee residue, of course) and it was amazing! And orange! And I’ve been drinking it a lot! I ran out after filling the coffee maker with water, and only adding about half as much tea as I needed. I made up the difference with the only other loose – leaf tea we had on hand which was jasmine tea and it tastes good, but weird, and not what I wanted! So we went back to the store today to get more Thai tea, and I just finished the last of the weird Thai-jasmine tea.

In Bangkok, apparently, they serve Thai iced tea in a plastic bag with a straw.